ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s parliament on Thursday passed a tough pre-election law that could see bloodhounds and social media users jailed for up to three years for spreading “fake news. “
The new regulations consolidate the government’s control over the media 8 months before a general election in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trailing in the polls.
The Council of Europe said the indistinct definition of the measure of “disinformation” and the accompanying risk of imprisonment may have “a deterrent effect and further self-censorship, especially in view of the upcoming elections in June 2023. “
The law, made up of 40 amendments, each requiring a separate vote, proposed through Erdogan’s Islamic-origin AK Party and with furious opposition from Turkey’s main opposition groups.
A deputy from the secular CHP party smashed his cell phone with hammers in parliament to show how freedom of expression was destroyed, especially for young people.
“I would like to face my brothers who are 15, 16, 17 years old and who will be the fate of Turkey in 2023,” CHP MP Burak Erbay said before pulling out his sledgehammer.
“You only have one freedom left: the phone in your pocket. There’s Instagram, YouTube, Facebook. You are there,” he said before the vote.
“If the law is passed here in parliament, you can break your phone like this,” he said.
Most Turkish newspapers and TV channels fell under the control of government officials and their advertising allies in a sweeping crackdown that followed the failed coup in 2016.
But social media and internet-based media have remained largely unchecked, much to Erdogan’s chagrin.
That began to be replaced when Turkey threatened steep sanctions to force giants like Facebook and Twitter to appoint local officials who can temporarily comply with local court orders to remove contentious posts.
Erdogan began claiming around the same time that Turkey’s highly polarized society is vulnerable to false and misleading information.
Social media has “become one of the threats to today’s democracy,” Erdogan said last December.
The new law imposes a thief penalty on those guilty of spreading false or misleading information.
It obliges social networks and to disclose the non-public knowledge of users suspected of “spreading misleading information”.
It also sentences accredited journalists and normal users of social media who “openly disseminate misleading information” to between one and three years in prison.
The government also began publishing a weekly “disinformation bulletin” aimed at debunking what it considers news with “accurate and truthful information. “
Lawmakers repeatedly rejected through opposition watering down the law before the vote.
“This declares war on the truth,” said Meral Danis Bektas, a lawmaker from the pro-Kurdish opposition HDP party.
Turkey ranked 149th out of 180 countries in the annual press freedom index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) earlier this year.
“Authoritarianism is gaining ground in Turkey, challenging media pluralism,” RSF said. “Every conceivable means is being used to undermine criticism. “
Award-winning media rights activist Veysel Ok said everyone in Turkey now faces possible prosecution for their opinions.
“Members of the opposition, NGOs, bar associations, professional associations, journalists and citizens. . . From now on, everyone will be subject to judicial harassment,” Ok tweeted.
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